


Transfers

by lunaofthemiste



Category: Battle for London in the Air (Roleplay)
Genre: Beck sucks, Gen, Immortal Illuminati AU, Kidnapping, Terrible Plans, innuendos, the reverse Luna Trajectory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26808733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaofthemiste/pseuds/lunaofthemiste
Summary: Rebecca's arrival back in London sparks a chain of events she never anticipated.
Kudos: 4





	Transfers

London Heathrow Airport was noisy and crowded, but Rebecca preferred it immensely to the actual airplane she had been on. The aircrafts had been around for nearly a century, but the act of flying still made her quite nervous. She was grateful to be off the plane and in London once more.

Through some miracle, she had been recalled from her assignment in Maine and allowed to return home. Rebecca figured it was a mix of Tristan’s good intentions and global circumstances, but she was glad nevertheless. She missed Tristan terribly after his visit in November.

She walked into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror as she placed down her bag. Her hair was a mess, her eyes had bags that could have been designer, and she knew she looked terrible. She carefully pulled her hair back, trying not to make it too frizzy, before leaning over the sink to splash some water on her face. The flight had been long, and she knew jetlag was going to show up any minute.

Rebecca stood up and looked at herself in the mirror again, noticing that she wasn’t alone in the bathroom. As she realized the other woman looked familiar, the woman lunged forward and grabbed Rebecca’s shoulder, pulling her back. At the same time, the woman jabbed a syringe in Rebecca’s neck. Rebecca shook off the woman, but she knew it was too late - whatever was in the syringe was already in her body.

She went to step forward to her bag but her legs were swept out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground. The woman seemed to not be bothered by this and watched Rebecca as she tried to get up again. Rebecca’s last thought was that she had to tell Tristan before it all went black.

* * *

Rebecca knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t put it together. She was just _so_ tired, and her throat was sore, so a few more minutes of rest wouldn’t hurt. However, she started to feel something on her wrist, which jolted her awake. Her eyes flashed open and she saw, to her surprise, Dr. Jhandir holding one of her cuffed wrists, checking her pulse.

She quickly pulled her wrists back and went to talk, but realized she was gagged. Carefully, she moved the gag out of her mouth while Dr. Jhandir spoke.

“I didn’t know you were in London,” he commented while she composed herself.

“I just got back,” Rebecca answered, swallowing. “I was abducted at the airport. How long have I been here?”

“I’m not sure, but probably a few hours. I was here when you arrived, and _he_ arrived later.” Dr. Jhandir motioned behind him, where Rebecca saw an unconscious Lord Beck. “Any chance you have something that would allow us to remove these handcuffs?” 

“Uhh…” Rebecca trailed off, wincing. “Perhaps. Let me check,” she answered eventually. Her head was still foggy, so she was focusing as hard as she could. “What happened to you?”

“I was heading home from the shop when I was pulled into an alley.”

“Was it a woman?”

“No, it had to have been a man. He was taller than me.”

“Hm,” Rebecca frowned. “This isn’t a coincidence, it has to be EVIL. Why else would we all be here?”

“Obviously,” Dr. Jhandir said as if Rebecca were stupid. “Do you have anything or not?”

Rebecca frowned, finishing her search. “I don’t have anything for the handcuffs, but Beck might?”

Dr. Jhandir scoffed. “We have a better chance for escape and survival by leaving that _imbecile_ behind.”

“We won’t get anywhere without getting these cuffs off,” Rebecca pointed out. “I don’t like him either, but we cannot leave him here. He knows too much.”

“So we simply eliminate him before we leave.”

“N-no! We can’t just kill him!” Rebecca hissed. 

“Why not?”

“Because he’s a person and he hasn’t done anything wrong other than get kidnapped.”

“He has certainly done some wrong!”

“I know, I remember 1948.” Rebecca sighed. “He could be a useful distraction?” She suggested.

Dr. Jhandir sighed loudly. “This will inevitably backfire, so I hope you know that you suggested it.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes and carefully made her way over to Beck in a weird crawl that she knew looked ridiculous. Once there, she checked his pulse, noticing that he was, in fact, alive, and carefully pulled out his gag. While doing so, she noticed that despite it being 2020, Beck was still dressed in outrageously outdated clothing. Compared to his fancy attire and Dr. Jhandir’s impeccable suit, Rebecca felt oddly underdressed in her sweater and leggings.

Once his gag was out, Beck coughed a bit before opening his eyes and looking at Rebecca. “Rebecca? Darling, it’s been too long. At last our paths have intertwined.”

Rebecca stared at him, the memories of the events in 1948 still clear in her mind. “He’s alive.” She said, more to Dr. Jhandir.

Beck looked behind her and made eye contact with Dr. Jhandir, gasping. “He’s here to kill me again! You must stop him!”

“If I was going to kill you, I wouldn’t have a witness so openly objecting to your death.” Dr. Jhandir grumbled.

“You stopped him?” Beck asked, his eyes filled with wonder. “I knew you truly cared for me.”

Rebecca was generally the type of person that objected to murder, regardless of who it was, but at this moment she was considering an exception. “What do you remember before waking up here?” She asked, attempting to keep him on track.

“I was assaulted! I thought this man wanted...well, you know, but he only wanted to take me to this dungeon,” Beck exclaimed, looking around. “Unless…” He added suggestively.

“No. No. That’s **not** why we’re here.” Rebecca shook her head, resisting the urge to glare at him. “Do you have a lockpick or something? We need to get out of here.”

Beck shrugged. “I’m not sure, but you could search me?” He winked, which made Rebecca want to vomit.

“I’m not searching you. Search yourself.” Rebecca said seriously. “We don’t have time for your sexual appetite.”

“Fine, fine. No need to be so cross,” Beck muttered, starting to search himself. While he did that, Rebecca looked around for clues. They seemed to be in a basement, with a single window near the top of one of the walls - too high for Rebecca or Dr. Jhandir to reach, so that wasn’t a possible escape route for them. Based on the dim light coming in, Rebecca figured it was around sunset, which meant they would soon be in total darkness. There were some stairs in the middle of the room, leading up to the only exit - a door.

“If you’ve got ideas, I’d be open to hearing them,” Rebecca said to Dr. Jhandir.

“Well-” Beck started.

“Not you,” Rebecca cut him off.

Dr. Jhandir frowned. “We need some sort of distraction, since the door is our only way in or out. _Perhaps_ we could pick the lock on the door but we won’t be able to get past our captors alone.”

“What if someone got out the window? We could lift someone up to it to squeeze out?” Rebecca suggested.

“Found it!” Beck exclaimed, holding up a lockpick.

“How do you have that? Surely they searched you.” Dr. Jhandir pointed out.

“They simply didn’t search everything,” Beck grinned, and Rebecca groaned.

“I have so many questions that I don’t want answered,” Rebecca muttered, grabbing the lockpick from Beck and using them to open Beck’s handcuffs.

“Where did you learn to pick locks?” Dr. Jhandir asked, seemingly genuinely curious. 

Rebecca smiled to herself. “Oscar taught me, actually, when we met. It was something I had read about in one of my books, and it sounded just so daring and adventurous. I must have mentioned it enough because he offered to teach me.” She explained as she unlocked Beck’s handcuffs and moved onto Dr. Jhandir’s. “The rest was learned from the Agency. I find that it’s a good skill to have.”

Dr. Jhandir nodded, rubbing his wrists once Rebecca freed him. “It seems rather quick to do.”

Rebecca shrugged. “Only because I know _what_ to do,” she said, holding out the lockpick. “Can someone unlock mine?”

“I’ll do it,” Beck offered, grabbing back his lockpick. “I watched a tutorial on the Internets to learn how to do this.”

Dr. Jhandir scoffed. “Obviously. You’re not very good,” he commented while Beck struggled with the handcuffs.

“Just give me a moment, the tutorial was for doors, not this!” Beck snapped.

“We need a plan,” Rebecca said, changing the subject. “If we were able to get someone out that window, they could distract our captors long enough for the rest of us to get out.”

“We simply do not have enough information to do something as risky as what you’re suggesting,” Dr. Jhandir argued. “There could be three, or thirty people up there waiting for us to make a mistake.”

“But we’re alive,” Rebecca pointed out, “they must want us for something.”

“Something dastardly, probably.” Beck commented, finally unlocking Rebecca’s handcuffs. “Finally! Do I get a reward?”

“No.” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “We can eavesdrop and see if we hear anything. If it seems feasible, we can try my window idea,” she decided. “Do you have anything better?”

Dr. Jhandir scowled. “If only we had more time to think this through.”

“We don’t. They could be down here any minute, and we don’t know what they know. My arrival today was supposedly secret, yet they somehow knew of my exact flight details.” Rebecca said, standing up. “I’ll see if I can hear anything through the door.” 

Rebecca carefully made her way to and up the stairs, careful to not make noise. She wasn’t overly concerned with what her fellow abductees were thinking; if she could convince them to act, they would escape whatever fate was in store for them. The door at the top was wooden, and had a lock that Rebecca figured one of them could pick if needed. Their captors obviously hadn’t planned on the lockpicks hidden in Beck’s package. Carefully, she leaned towards the door and could hear a conversation between a man and a woman.

“Did he say when he would be back?” The woman asked.

“An hour or so,” the man responded. “He had to get Massey, apparently he wanted to come here instead of bringing them to HQ.”

The woman groaned. “That’s too long. We don’t know how much longer the sedative will last.”

“It would have been easier to kill them.”

“Definitely. What does Massey want with them anyways?”

“He didn’t say. Probably recruitment, he always liked that doctor, and Beck’s a problem unless we have him.”

“Beck’s a problem anywhere, he should have been left dead,” the woman scoffed. “I don’t think she even recognized me. I worked in her house for six fucking months, you think she would have said something.”

Rebecca pulled away from the door, frowning. The woman was right, she should have remembered the servant that showed up out of the blue right before she was recruited. Oscar later told her that it was an EVIL agent known as Nori Lynch, but Rebecca had never needed to interact with her while she was still living at the Tyler manor.

She made her way carefully down the stairs, and addressed Beck and Dr. Jhandir. “There are two people, a man and a woman. I think the woman is Nori Lynch, she’s the one who abducted me. A third person went to go get Dr. Massey, who’s on his way **here** unless we do something about it.” 

Beck frowned. “He’s coming here? Why?”

Dr. Jhandir sighed. “You escaped him, and I suppose he’s plenty bitter about 1957,” he frowned. “The window will have to do, but I am not climbing through that.”

Rebecca looked at the window, frowning as well. “We could help lift Beck up so he can climb out?” She suggested.

Dr. Jhandir looked dumbstruck. “That’s a terrible idea,” he said while Beck said, “I’ll do it!”

“We are out of good ideas. I don’t think we had any to begin with.” Rebecca shrugged, as the three gazed at the window.

* * *

Rebecca soon realized that Beck was not as light as she thought, and she was beginning to regret this idea. However, her own words rang true: they were out of good ideas.

“This is ridiculous,” Dr. Jhandir complained through gritted teeth. He and Rebecca were each holding one of Beck’s feet in an effort to lift him up to the window.

“It would work if you were boosting more,” Beck snapped back while trying to open the window. “This isn’t as easy as it looks.”

“Could you try to hurry up?” Rebecca asked, annoyed. “If you can’t get it, just break the window.”

“And get glass all over my coat?” Beck asked, appalled.

“It’s better than whatever EVIL has in store for us,” Dr. Jhandir pointed out. “Plus the coat is terribly out of fashion and it wouldn’t be bad for it to be destroyed,” he muttered.

Rebecca shot a glare at Dr. Jhandir. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Got it,” Beck said, opening the window and awkwardly fitting himself through best he could. Rebecca and Dr. Jhandir slowly boosted him as high as they could manage until he squeezed himself out.

Rebecca leaned against the wall, panting slightly. “At least that’s over with.” She looked at the stairs bleakly. “Now to eavesdrop and lockpick,” she said, making her way slowly up the stairs. Dr. Jhandir followed her up, staying a few steps down for safety. Rebecca frowned as she started listening to their two captors. At first, she couldn’t hear anything, but heard a scream followed immediately by muffled yelling.

“How the hell did he get out?” The man snapped. “I’ll get him, you make sure they’re still here.” He ordered.

Rebecca could hear the lock start to move and quickly motioned for Dr. Jhandir to move out of the way while she quietly ran down the stairs herself. She moved to the side of the stairs, which could hopefully not be seen from the doorway, and tried her best not to panic. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she thought of everything that could go wrong, everything that was at stake. Rebecca didn’t want to admit to Dr. Jhandir or herself that she had no plan, that this potential escape was going to be exclusively based on her instincts and luck, as terrible as that sounded.

The door opened but didn’t close, and Rebecca could hear someone walk down the stairs. She hoped that whoever was checking was unarmed (or at least non-combative) and that Dr. Jhandir was hiding as well. Rebecca gave herself a quick glance to confirm that the person was in fact Nori Lynch, or Geraldine as Rebecca had known her. She watched Nori tuck the keys to the door into her pocket and ready a syringe, no doubt meant for her or Dr. Jhandir.

“You didn’t escape with Beck, so I know you’re here,” Nori announced coldly. “This’ll be less painful if you just surrender.”

Rebecca, swallowed, considering her options. If she stayed hidden, Nori would find her and subdue her faster than Rebecca could fight her off. On the other hand, surrendering was riskier, but could also provide Dr. Jhandir a way to escape. In her mind, Dr. Massey had better motives for going after Beck and Dr. Jhandir, since Beck was his son and Dr. Jhandir ran the medical division. Making the sacrifice play wasn’t the option she wanted to take, but it seemed better in the long run.

She moved out from her hiding spot, hands raised in a surrender position. It occurred to her that Nori had no idea who she really was, and only had the vague ideas based on who she was over a century ago. “It’s been a long time,  _ Geraldine _ . So thoughtful of you to see me at the airport.” She smirked, faking confidence she didn’t have. 

Nori glared at Rebecca. “Where is he?” She asked, advancing on Rebecca.

“Where’s who?” Rebecca asked innocently, her confident act dropping quickly.

“Jhandir.”

“We pushed him out the window,” Rebecca lied. “He’s not stupid enough to be seen by you lot.”

“Stupid enough to get kidnapped,” Nori snorted. “It’s a shame we can’t kill you, but this’ll do for now.” She growled, reaching out and grabbing Rebecca’s neck with one hand while she moved the syringe with the other.

Rebecca grabbed Nori’s free hand with both hands, stopping the syringe from moving any closer to her neck. Nori slammed her into the wall, which almost cost Rebecca her grip. Rebecca kicked Nori in one of her knees, which caused Nori to wince, but her grip on Rebecca’s neck only grew stronger. Slowly, the hand with the syringe was moving closer to Rebecca’s neck, and there wasn’t very much Rebecca could do to stop it. She tried kicking again, to no avail as Nori dug her nails into Rebecca’s neck.

Suddenly, Nori pulled back, and it took Rebecca a second to notice that it was only because Nori was being choked. Dr. Jhandir had grabbed one of the handcuffs and had pulled it around Nori’s neck to pull her away from Rebecca. Nori dropped the syringe and used both of her hands to try and pull the handcuffs off of her neck. Rebecca took the opportunity to grab the dropped syringe and plunge it into Nori’s neck.

Dr. Jhandir held onto the handcuffs until Nori fell unconscious, when he then released her onto the floor. “That was incredibly foolish of you,” he commented while Rebecca knelt down and checked Nori’s pockets.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rebecca answered vaguely, grabbing the keys to the door before standing back up. “We need to go before she wakes up or someone else comes back.”

Dr. Jhandir nodded and started up the stairs, Rebecca following close behind. Luckily, no one else was in what Rebecca assumed was an EVIL safehouse. Their belongings were left on a table, along with a few assorted weapons. Rebecca grabbed what she assumed was Beck’s cell phone before checking her bag.

“They left car keys, we can use them to get back to the Agency,” Dr. Jhandir said, leaving before he stopped and turned back around. “Hurry up!”

“Coming!” Rebecca said as she found what she was looking for in her bag. Before leaving and following Dr. Jhandir, she grabbed the only gun on the table. Obviously, she didn’t want to use it, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. 

She followed Dr. Jhandir outside to a small, beat up, white sedan that looked fairly inconspicuous and got into the passenger seat. Dr. Jhandir started up the car and was about to start driving when Rebecca stopped him. “Wait - we don’t know where we are, we need to figure that out before driving. Plus, we should see if we can find Beck.”

“I think we can drive away and  _ then _ figure out directions from there,” Dr. Jhandir frowned. “Beck will be able to handle himself, no doubt he’s already stumped the other captor.”

“I doubt that…” Rebecca trailed off when she spotted Beck running towards the car in the rearview mirror. She couldn’t hear him, but he appeared to be screaming. “Start the car, but don’t drive away until Beck reaches us.”

“I’m genuinely surprised he lasted this long,” Dr. Jhandir muttered. While he clearly was not happy about waiting for Beck, he still listened to what Rebecca said.

“I guess he’s got stamina,” Rebecca said, then immediately wished she hadn’t.

Moments later, Beck ran up to the car, flung open the door, and climbed in. “Hurry! This... man is going to... kill me!” He panted.

Dr. Jhandir sped away with absolutely no warning, flinging Beck back against the backseat since he had no seatbelt. Rebecca looked out the back window and saw the other man stop running and watch the car drive away.

She looked into her bag and pulled out a phone with a very gothic case. “I believe this is yours,” she said, handing it to Beck.

“Thank you!” Beck praised, taking the phone. “I thought it had been lost forever! I have no idea what I would have done. I understand that there is a cloud, but apparently I no longer have access to the cloud, which is frankly ridiculous.”

“What?”

“Jaydyn banned me from the cloud because of my “unsafe online activities” or my “unhealthy need for validation online” or something,” Beck continued, pulling out a small object from his jacket. “I’m surprised they didn’t find this.”

“Find what?”

Beck inhaled from the small object and exhaled a cloud of smoke. “It’s my vape pen,” he explained, “you know, for vaping. Anil does it too.”

“I most  **certainly** do not,” Dr. Jhandir said coldly. “I find the habit disgusting.”

“What happened to the one I got you for Secret Santa?” Beck asked. “It’s better than cigarettes, you know,” he explained to Rebecca, who already knew.

“I got rid of it.” Dr. Jhandir said flatly. “Do you have to do it in the car?”

“It relaxes me, and we just escaped a  _ very _ stressful situation back there, so I think I deserve it,” Beck rolled his eyes. 

Rebecca coughed as the vapor reached her nose and exchanged glances with Dr. Jhandir. “Can I see it?” She asked Beck politely.

“Oh, you want to try? It’s very easy, you just inhale there and exhale...not on there,” Beck explained, handing the vape pen to Rebecca. Dr. Jhandir gave Rebecca a cold glare as she took the vape pen.

“Thank you,” Rebecca said as she opened the window and threw the vape pen outside.

“WHAT?!” Beck screamed as Dr. Jhandir swerved the car slightly. “Why would you do such a dastardly thing? I believe it’s a federal crime to litter.”

“It’s also a crime to destroy one’s property and to break and enter,” Rebecca pointed out. “Besides, I was a teaching assistant at a college. Those things are disgusting and almost as bad as cigarettes.”

Beck frowned, looking down. “Does this mean you’re still mad about 1948?” He asked after a moment.

“I am still very mad about 1948,” Rebecca answered, reaching into her bag and pulling out her phone. She noticed it was on and still had some battery left, but she had left it on airplane mode. Once she switched airplane mode off, her phone started to vibrate until all her missed notifications came in: eight missed calls and twelve text messages, all from the same number.

Rebecca was just about to call the number back when Dr. Jhandir interrupted her train of thought. “Could you get directions?” He asked.

She nodded and pulled up the navigation app. As she waited for the phone to get the location, her phone rang again, a call from the same number, which she picked up. “Hello?”

“R-Bex, I have been trying to call you for hours, I’m at the airport and your luggage is here but you’re not. Where are you?” Tristan asked, sounding panicked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m- we’re fine. For now. I think.” Rebecca bit her lip. “It’s a long story.”

“What happened? We tried locating your phone but we couldn’t find it, so I assumed your flight was delayed, but the luggage is here and your flight landed-”

“I was kidnapped.”

“Wha-where are you now? Are you okay?”

“Um,” Rebecca pulled the phone away from her ear and checked the directions, “we’re at Oxford. Dr. Jhandir and Beck are here too.” She pointed to the direction Dr. Jhandir had to go before putting her phone back to her ear.

She could hear Tristan groan. “So it’s-”

“Yeah.”

“How did they know? It was classified,” he sighed. “I didn’t want this to happen again but it is.”

“There was no way we could’ve known,” Rebecca assured him. “It’s going to take us around two hours to get back to headquarters. We stole a car.”

“I know but...you should have come back with me in November. This shouldn’t have…” he hesitated, “I can only imagine what could have happened.”

“I-I can’t think like that right now,” Rebecca said quietly. “Not until we’re safe, not until I’m back with you.”

“Where are you exactly? I’ll come meet you-”

“Tristan,” Rebecca interrupted. “We’ll be okay. They didn’t follow us,” she assured him. “It doesn’t make sense for you to drive out here just to drive back to headquarters.”

The other end was silent. “Please be careful,” Tristan said eventually. “I can’t lose you too.”

“I will,” Rebecca assured him. “I promise. You need to stay safe too, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

“Mm-hm.” Tristan nodded. “Love you.”

Rebecca felt herself blush. “I love you too,” she said, hanging up. She sighed, leaning back against the carseat. “It’s going to be a while,” she announced to the car.

“Was that Curtis?” Dr. Jhandir asked.

“Yes.”

“He’s not supposed to be able to contact you, last I heard,” Dr. Jhandir commented, following the directions from Rebecca’s phone.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Rebecca sighed, “I’ll see him when we get back anyways.”

Dr. Jhandir didn’t respond and seemed content to focus on driving. Beck was lounging in the backseat, playing on his phone, and Rebecca leaned against the window. She finally allowed herself to relax a little bit and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the road.

* * *

Rebecca hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep until she was jolted awake by the sound of the back window shattering. She could hear Beck yell out a variety of curses, most of which seemed to be either very old or in another language. Rebecca looked behind herself and could see another car in the distance, but she was unsure of what exactly happened.

“What was that?” She asked, looking around.

“Bullet? Maybe.” Dr. Jhandir frowned. “Nice of you to join us. We’re being followed.”

“I have jet lag,” Rebecca grumbled. “Can you outrun them?”

“It doesn’t matter since the road is one-lane,” Dr. Jhandir shrugged. “Besides, this thing isn’t that fast.”

“Well maybe we should try now that we’re being shot at?” Rebecca snapped, sounding angrier than she meant to.

Dr. Jhandir was about to respond when another bullet hit the car, this time hitting the side-view mirror next to her. She yelped when it shattered, and Dr. Jhandir sped up. Unfortunately, so did their pursuer.

“This is absolutely terrible,” Beck grumbled. “How far are we?”

“Um,” Rebecca said, checking the map on her phone. “About a half-hour.”

The car started to dangerously shake as Rebecca watched the speedometer continue to increase. Their pursuer was on their tail, but suddenly moved from behind them, crossing into the other lane to get in front. Dr. Jhandir started to slow down as they watched the other car drive away.

“Why did you do that?” Beck asked. “We still need to go that way.”

“It’s unsafe to drive this fast, especially with a car like this,” Dr. Jhandir answered. “Hopefully it will be awhile before the other car notices we’ve fallen behind.”

“I don’t think we’re that lucky,” Rebecca said slowly, pointing ahead. The other car was parked horizontally between two lanes, blocking the path. “Can we just drive around them?”

“Not possible,” Dr. Jhandir frowned. “Neither is turning around. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to see what they want.”

Rebecca sighed, looking ahead. It was hard to make out the whole scene in the darkness, but the lights of their car helped. They slowed down until both cars were idling perpendicular to each other. Neither car moved, and the car was silent for the longest time.

Slowly, the view in front of the car started to get hazy. Rebecca wondered if it was condensation from the difference in temperatures, but Beck confirmed what Rebecca truly suspected it was.

“Is that smoke?” 

The three stared out the window a little longer.

“It’s smoke,” Dr. Jhandir confirmed. 

“Should we get out of the car?” Rebecca asked. 

“Yes, but we could get shot at.”

“Hm…” Rebecca frowned. “We can run to the ditch? We at least have a chance of survival with the gun.” She suggested as the smoke continued to grow.

Dr. Jhandir nodded. “Might as well,” he sighed, undoing his seatbelt but not exiting the car. “Beck, you go first. We’ll be right behind you.”

“Absolutely not! You can go first,” Beck argued.

Rebecca rolled her eyes, undoing her seatbelt and getting out of the car. She ran to the ditch, pulling out the gun she had taken from the safehouse. As soon as she started to move, gunshots were fired from the other car, most of them above her head but a few too close to Rebecca’s liking. Dr. Jhandir and Beck soon dashed out of the car, dodging bullets along the way.

“It’s freezing!” Beck hissed, ducking down with the rest of them.

“At least you have a coat! Mine was in my luggage!” Rebecca snapped, looking around. The February air was brutal, especially at night, so Rebecca did her best not to shiver.

Dr. Jhandir motioned to the gun Rebecca was holding. “How did you get that?”

“I stole it, just in case,” she explained. “I do know how to use it, I passed the class,” she added, even though she barely passed the class and never carried a gun anyways.

Beck cleared his throat. “What if we stole the other car?” He asked.

“What?” Dr. Jhandir asked.

“The other car is working, we can simply take it back to headquarters  _ and _ lose the tail. Two pigeons, one bean.” Beck shrugged. 

Rebecca looked at their car, seeing how thick the smoke was getting. “That could work. I could confront the assailant from one side while you two get the car ready.”

“Confront them?” Dr. Jhandir asked.

“Guns are very intimidating.”

“They  _ also _ have a gun.”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Rebecca snapped. “I can’t drive, and I don’t want  _ Beck _ to drive so you have to drive.”

Dr. Jhandir sighed loudly. “This is a terrible idea.” 

Rebecca nodded, standing up. “Just get the car ready,” she said, readying her gun. It felt very much like an action movie to her, but she was more or less terrified. She had no idea if she was walking to her doom as she approached the far side of the car.

The car itself was very modern, a sleek style that was fit for a secret organization, but there was nobody around. She hadn’t seen any of the windows open, so the other person should have been nearby.

Suddenly, an arm came around her neck, slowly tightening as she was placed into a headlock. Rebecca pushed against her attacker but couldn’t get a grip as she felt herself being dragged backwards. Since she couldn’t catch her footing, she opted for a different plan. Looking down as best she could, she aimed the gun at her attacker’s foot and fired.

Immediately, her attacker let go of her and fell back, indicating that her shot rang true. Rebecca stumbled backwards but managed to stay standing, immediately turning around and aiming the gun at her attacker.

Her stomach dropped.

“Oscar?” She asked, her voice wavering either from the cold, the shock, or both. It was impossible, it  _ had _ to be impossible - because Oscar was dead. He had to be, since she had found his body after the accident. There was no way.

And yet, there he was, sitting in the ditch, a few feet away from her.

“What?” He asked, starting to stand up.

Rebecca had a million questions running through her mind, but could barely find the words for them. “Stay there,” she said shakily, accidentally firing a shot that skimmed Oscar’s leg. “Why are you attacking us?”

Oscar winced. “You’re criminals that are manipulating world events to your favor that just escaped custody.”

“That isn’t true! That’s what EVIL is doing, that’s what...you’re...doing,” Rebecca trailed off. “Oscar, do you recognize me? I’ve-”

“You don’t know me,” Oscar interjected, standing up. “They said you were the most dangerous, that you were a liar that was going to try and trick me-”

“I’m not lying!” Rebecca cried, biting back tears. “I would never lie to you.”

“A liar always claims they’re not lying,” Oscar said coldly, drawing his own gun and pointing it at Rebecca. “I’m not supposed to kill you, so stand down.”

Rebecca stared at Oscar for the longest time, slowly realizing that the Oscar she knew wasn’t there. Whatever had happened after the accident had destroyed the man she knew, and what was left was a man only loyal to EVIL. However, that didn’t change anything.

She lowered the gun. 

She wouldn’t shoot him, and she had to hope that he wouldn’t shoot her.

Rebecca was so wrapped up in her head that she didn’t notice Dr. Jhandir approach her from behind and take the gun from her, pointing and firing at Oscar. She knew the shot would hit Oscar point blank if it had been loaded.

Cursing, Dr. Jhandir dropped the gun and grabbed Rebecca, pulling her back to the car. She hesitated until he pulled her harder. “We have to go!” He snapped, which seemed to snap her out of it.

They ran to the car, dodging a few bullets from Oscar before they made it to safety. As soon as he was in the car, Dr. Jhandir shifted the gear into drive and sped away, leaving Oscar in the dust.

Rebecca couldn’t help but turn and watch him get smaller and smaller as the distance grew. Her heart ached and she felt emotionally and physically drained, but she still couldn’t wrap her head around the events that just happened.

Oscar was alive.

* * *

The rest of the car ride was silent, no one wanting to address the previous events. Even Beck had kept quiet, not wanting to face Rebecca’s wrath. Rebecca stared out the front window until they reached their headquarters near King’s Observatory, attempting to process everything that happened.

Oscar was alive. He was alive and she left him there on the side of the road. He was alive and he didn’t know her. He was alive and working for EVIL.

A part of her wondered if this was what happened to Beck when he was brought back. A smaller part wondered if this was what was in store for her if she hadn’t escaped.

They arrived at the headquarters to a group of agents waiting outside. She knew most of them, who had likely been warned of her arrival by Tristan, or had been watching her phone’s location.

She got out of the car, focusing on the one person she wanted to talk to. Tristan made eye contact with her, and Rebecca let out an involuntary sob. He ran up to her and embraced her as the tears she had been boarding up all day came out at once. It was all too much, the kidnapping, Oscar, the jet lag - it had all accumulated into an emotional mess for Rebecca.

Eventually, she pulled away, saying the words she’d never thought she’d say. 

“He’s alive."   
  
  



End file.
